Lindsay Davenport made very short work of rising star Kim Clijsters to make the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the third successive year.

The beaten Belgian held her serve just once during the two sets, and was very disappointed with her performance.

"I thought I played well," said Davenport after her win.

"After a day of a lot of drama my match was pretty mellow out there.

"I did everything I wanted to do. I thought everything was great - I'm on a pretty good roll."

The 1999 title-holder will now go on to play Venus Williams in a repeat of last year's final.

Outdone by power

And Davenport knows she will have to be at her best to take out the defending champion.

"She hits the ball extremely hard and is playing well, serving well. I am going to have to play extremely well to beat her."

Davenport breezed through the first set, as her younger opponent struggled to get to grips with the occasion.

With boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt watching on, the Belgian teenager lost her serve in the opening game of the set and was outdone by the power of her taller opponent.

A break in the first game of the second set suggested a Clijsters comeback, but she lost the next three games as Davenport continued the onslaught she began in the first set.

The second set was a strange passage of tennis, with serve held just once during the first six games.

Crucially, that first service hold was from Davenport, and when she held again to go 5-2 up, the writing was on the wall for Clijsters.

Clijsters saved the first match-point on her serve with a searing backhand drive.

But an attempted drop shot was read by Davenport and the American duly despatched it to reach the last four at the second time of asking.